Blazers among founders of Green Sports Alliance

The Green Sports Alliance just doubled its national footprint with inclusion of AEG as a… more

By Erik Siemers – Business Journal staff writer

Mar 21, 2011, 1:59pm PDTUpdatedJun 20, 2014, 5:57am PDT

In a rare collaboration, teams from six major professional sports leagues have joined forces to create a new Portland-based nonprofit group to promote environmental stewardship in pro sports.

The formation of the Green Sports Alliance — announced during an event Monday at Safeco Field in Seattle — was led by Pacific Northwest representatives from each league: the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC and the Seattle Storm of the Women’s National Basketball Association.

The Green Sports Alliance aims to help leagues, teams and stadiums use and share measurable, science-based environmental programs to reduce energy and emissions, conserve water, and promote renewable energy and alternative transportation initiatives.

It is led Portland by executive director Martin Tull, a former director of sustainable technology at Vancouver, Wash.-based software firm Formos.

“The sports industry represents a vast opportunity to make meaningful strides towards environmental responsibility and sustainability,” Tull said in a news release. “The founding members of the Green Sports Alliance have already implemented programs and policies that have significantly reduced their environmental impact and enhanced the experience for fans.”

The founding members of the alliance are working together with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Portland State University to adopt sustainability initiatives and share information on measuring their environmental impact.

Tull said the group is looking to expand the alliance to include additional teams and venues.

This summer, from Aug. 1-3, the alliance will host a Green Sports Summit at the World Trade Center building in downtown Portland where industry executives — including facility managers, event producers and marketing directors — will come together with environmental leaders to share best practices and discuss new opportunities and challenges faced by professional sports teams.

The idea of an inter-league alliance was sparked in the fall of 2009 in discussions between the NRDC and representatives of teams owned by former Microsoft executive Paul G. Allen, whose holdings include the Seahawks and Trail Blazers. Allen is also co-owner of the Sounders.

The alliance has since received endorsements from the commissioners of all six leagues — Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and WNBA — and the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The commitment by these six professional teams, from six different leagues, to enhance their environmental profile in a meaningful and public way marks a watershed in the history of professional sports,” Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist for the NRDC, said in a news release. “The Green Sports Alliance is showing its commitment to making real environmental progress by systematically evaluating their members green impacts — just like sports stats.”